Of Queues n Quiet

I was en route to Moscow on Saturday and fearing a long journey plugged into a series of "From our own correspondent" from the BBC I had downloaded onto my iphone. One of the programmes was from a journalist who had been on assignment in the United States and was checking out on his way home after 5 years there. He finished by saying that he loved the Americans (same as me) - a great race but if he had to fine one fault he would advise them all to stand just one pace closer when talking to each other and as he put it "all the public spaces would be just that little bit quieter".

As if to prove his point (to me at least) little more than 20 minutes later I was in WH Smith at Heathrow Airport queueing for some mints. In front of me were two air hostesses from United Airlines buying as many copies of the Daily Mirror souvenir edition of the Royal Wedding as they could comfortably fit into their hand luggage. Hostess 1 announced to her colleague (and it seemed, to everyone else in the queue) that she preferred the Mirror because its photos of the wedding were just awesome. As she got to the front of the queue Hostess No.2 advised her to move her suitcase because it was blocking the path of others. She turned and addressed her colleague sharply "Listen Kim if my bag is troubling you that much why don't you move it?" Her friend asked everyone in the queue if they were on United Airlines flight 998 to Atlanta because if they were here was their friendly air hostess. All those in the queue chuckled with polite embarrassment but it was to get better. Kim's colleague turned round and declared angrily for all in the queue (and indeed the shop) to hear "you know what's the matter with you Kim? You've got such a big mouth"!